Day 5: Meeting of the Minds
Today was an extremely influential day for me. I met with Beth and had an incredible time conversing about my thesis idea and potential for a business partnership with one another. She has an undergraduate degree in business and considers herself someone with a very 'entrepreneurial mind.' I'm still trying to unpack everything we discussed today.
I have to share one story (mythology) from today's meeting as I keep thinking about it. The insulin pump that she is on (medtronic minimed) is similar in shape to old-school pagers. However, it's like a pager attached to a small tube that is then attached to the body through an infusion site. One of Beth's first questions to me was "So, do you have a boyfriend?" and she continued to discuss her anxieties about the pump being "not sexy at all." There is a lot of difficulty in concealing this device on the body. While much of my thesis is about abandoning this notion of concealment - - I still do it, as most diabetics do as well. Perhaps through this process I can change this reality. Anyway, so many women who use this pump keep it located in their bra, in between their breasts - - this is where Beth usually stores it and it is where I put it as well during the time I wore it. She told me a story of a girl she knew who actually got breast enhacement surgery for the purpose of keeping the pump discreet and hidden between her breasts. Wow. What does it mean when people begin to modify their body because of a medical device? What does that say about the design of this device? This kind of story is both incredibly sad as well as encouraging in the sense that I think my project has more urgency than I thought before today. Through this process I'm beginning to learn that there are simple solutions for very big problems, this is what Chikara addresses as well.
For today's post I want to address the project direction I'm thinking of for her. She is a very athletic person and finds most of her issues with the pump associated with situations that are athletic in nature. The pump that she is on is one I am very familiar with and she is struggling with the exact same issues I had while living with it on my body. She is a person that wants to be more discreet with the integration of the pump with the body. I think this is a valuable exercise for me as it represents a huge population of Type 1 Diabetics. A few ideas we discussed were the addition of special pockets to athletic clothing such as a sports bra or yoga pants. I'm still interested in ways to incorporate a larger narrative in the designs. Perhaps the design can be more internal and introspective, but still a psychologically reinforcing one. Maybe the pocket, while internal, has imagery on it that helps reinforce the idea that she is part of a greater community.
I have so much more to share about my meeting today, but this will be it for now.
